Lemon Yogurt Cake with Mascarpone Icing

We celebrated Bill’s Bday last weekend and I made him this cake. The light lemon flavor was so refreshing and yummy!

I knew I wanted to make a cake with lemon, yogurt, and oil and was happy to come across this recipe onWhole Foods website. They recommend topping it with fresh berries, but I wanted it to feel more like a birthday cake. So I found a mascarpone icing from the adorable Emily, who loves sweets atSugar Plum.

I told Bill I wanted to “fatten” him up a little because he’s getting too skinny. Last week we did theS.A.S.S. Yourself Slim 5 day Fast Forward and he lost 9 pounds in 3 days!! (WOW, right?!) He stopped after 3 days because he didn’t really want to lose anymore.

I think it’s safe to say Bill loved the cake because he ate most of it all by himself!

Yikes.

I guess my “fattening” plan worked!

I don’t even want to tell you what I did with the extra mascarpone cheese and why I didn’t eat very much of the cake leftovers myself.

Speaking of mascarpone cheese…

Where have you been all my life?? We were both newbie’s, but WOW, that stuff is GOOD!

Like crazy good.

I’ve got some ideas up my sleeve for the other container of mascarpone cheese we bought.

I should mention that the only “not so great” thing about this cake is that I over baked it a little. I’m sure you can tell from the pictures. So don’t be like me and burn your cake! It was all good though…

Rachael xoxo

This is a light and refreshing cake with just the right amount of lemon flavor. If you want to make it even lighter, skip the mascarpone icing and top with fresh berries instead!

Author: Rachael www.simplyfreshcooking.com

Serves: 8

Ingredients

For the cake:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup plain nonfat yogurt

1 cup cane sugar

3 large eggs

⅓ cup canola oil, plus more for oiling the pan

½ teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the Icing:

½ cup confectioners' sugar

2 tablespoons mascarpone cheese

2 teaspoons honey

½ teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Oil a 9-inch cake pan, then line the bottom with a circle of parchment paper. Oil the paper, too; set the pan aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together yogurt, sugar, eggs, oil, lemon zest, and vanilla extract. Gently whisk flour mixture into yogurt mixture just until blended and smooth.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 35-45 minutes (keep an eye on it), or until cake is golden brown and top has formed a thin crust. The cake should be just firm in the center when done. Cool cake on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then remove cake from pan and peel off parchment paper.

Stir together icing ingredients and spread evenly over the top of cake. Grate some fresh lemon zest on top, if desired.